Dizzy Dishes (1930) User Reviews

Early Betty Boop, but nowhere near among her best

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 29 January 2017]

Fleischer were responsible for some brilliant cartoons, some of them still among my favourites. Their visual style was often stunning and some of the most imaginative and ahead of its time in animation.

The character of Betty Boop, one of their most famous and prolific characters, may not be for all tastes and sadly not as popular now, but her sex appeal was quite daring for the time and to me there is an adorable sensual charm about her. 'Dizzy Dishes' is a very early cartoon for her, and as well as being nowhere near her best there is the sense that Betty was evolving still, meaning that what made her famous doesn't come through enough and she is not particularly well drawn, pretty weird actually.

Most of the animation is pretty good, the detail and use of black and white is rich and attractive enough and apart from Betty the cartoon is drawn well. The music is infectious and beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, putting one in a good mood and enhances the action wonderfully.

'Dizzy Dishes' does have some cuteness and charm, and the waiter is a lively character. The voice acting is serviceable, but did get better later on.

However, along with Betty underwhelming somewhat, like the post-introduction of production code, if anybody enjoyed the pre-code Betty Boop cartoons for being creative visually, wonderfully surreal and for its daring risqué content that was ahead of the time back in the 30s and wouldn't be seen a lot now in cartoon, they will be disappointed in 'Dizzy Dishes'. Because all of those are missing here, so in comparison to what came later everything feels very safe, tame and dare one say it...bland.

Judging it on its own entity too, the content is thin and only has the odd minor bit of amusement. The story is not just not much of one.

In conclusion, has historical value but there are much better Betty Boop cartoons around. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Notable only as a formative Betty Boop cartoon

[llltdesq · 6/10 · 18 July 2004]

While Fleischer cartoons are generally well-animated and thus worth watching from that standpoint, the only real point of interest is the comparatively brief look at Betty Boop-version 1.0. Originally, Betty Boop was conceived as a dog and gradually evolved into the Betty Boop most recognizable today. There isn't much to say about the short itself, as it's nothing terribly special. The gags are occasionally cute, but it isn't especially memorable for anything other than Betty. I've had waiters this bad before, however. Dizzy Dishes is on Betty Boop-The Definitive Collection, an excellent compilation. Maybe Popeye will receive similar treatment on DVD sometime before the heat-death of the universe. For completeists only.

Mostly of interest to cartoon historians due to the first appearance (sort of) of Betty Boop.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 20 November 2012]

Technically, this is the first Betty Boop cartoon--and because of that, it's very important historically. However, if you see it, you'll notice that Betty isn't yet the Betty we all know. The animation of this character is poor, she has doggy ears (as she did in the first five or so of her films) and there is little in the way of personality--she's just a dog-like cabaret singer grinding out a tune. The actual star of the cartoon is the waiter is this goofy restaurant who is giving terrible service to a huge and scary looking character who keeps eating the plates! The ending also isn't very Boop-like, as it's quite surreal and difficult to describe. All in all, a pleasant but otherwise unremarkable little film. Judging by the look of this, it's not easy to see that Betty would soon be a big star for the Fleischer brothers and Paramount Studio.

"Check your gloom and get excited!"

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 6/10 · 16 December 2017]

This early Fleischer cartoon isn't one of my favourites of theirs and really isn't one of the most interesting or memorable shorts ever produced by the studio. I get that everyone has to start somewhere but the sound is really rough and grating on the ears, and the animation is just dull as heck and for me it's just a bit of a depressingly drab little effort. It's not fluid with its animation or as wildly inventive as the terrifically surreal animations that would later be put out, and it's clear that they were still honing their craft at the point of this short. Oh and Betty Boop more or less puts in her first ever very brief appearance in a bizarre form that's very different from what she'd look like by the time of her twelve cartoon or so. She has a hideous flappy mouth, an enormous bouncy behind, noodle arms, piggy snout, and drooping gross ears - suffice it to say that in her animated debut, Betty was most-definitely a dog! Some of her famous traits were there right from the start though, like the lilting voice and big eyes and shapely feminine legs. For the most part though it's hard to believe that the sassy ugly mutt that appears in this short would soon evolve into a wildly popular character that would at one point be america's sweetheart and an endearing icon of early animation to this day. That her first appearance is probably the most noteworthy aspect of this short really doesn't say too much for it.. There were far better Fleischer works yet to come, and this early stepping stone is probably of main interest to Fleischer and/or fans of vintage animation historia, only!

A really good surprise!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 7 May 2018]

Bimbo (the waiter), Betty Boop (a nightclub singer, voiced by Mae Questel).

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Myron Natwick, Ted Sears. Producer: Max Fleischer.

Copyright 9 August 1930 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.

COMMENT: In her first appearance, the Betty Boop portrayed here, with her long dog ears and surrealistically mobile face, is a long way from the Betty Boop that we all know and love.

Nonetheless, it's actually a really good surprise to see Betty Boop here, even though "Dizzy Dishes" is really Bimbo's film, as he and a headless duck dance up a storm while he runs rings around a ruffianly customer who is impatiently waiting for said roast duck.

All told, this a a lively, if somewhat bizarre entry (and even an entertainment that could be classed as rather lacking-in-taste!)

I feel weird...

[Mightyzebra · 7/10 · 6 March 2009]

...Never in my life have I watched a Betty Boop cartoon - until today. I thought I could give this one a go, as this was Betty's debut and I wanted to see what she would be like.

Betty Boop only appears in this odd and old episode for a little bit of it, but seems to be an important character. In this appearance she has dog ears, to attract the dog waiter who is the main centre of the episode. He is catering for a pub-type place with a stage for dancers (Betty Boop is a dancer and the waiter seems to dance for her later because he loves her so much). The main plot-line of the episode is the fact that the waiter is incredibly slow and everyone is waiting for him. The most stressed out customer is a rather big dog who wants roast duck. The waiter is just about to bring the roast duck to him until he is distracted by Betty Boop and dances with the duck (cooked and prepared).

Anyhow, that's pretty much the plot of the episode. I thought it was cute, entertaining and one that I would watch again. As for Betty Boop, she was not a character to interest me enough (partly because she was not the main character), so I think I'll have to watch some newer episodes with her to have a better idea of her.

I recommend this episode to people who like lots of arbitrary dancing and music in a short cartoon episode and to people who want to see Betty's first appearance - with dog ears. Enjoy "Dizzy Dishes"! :-)

7 and a half out of ten.

A Cartoon Worth Respecting instead of Enjoying

[elicopperman · 3/10 · 16 March 2019]

Betty Boop to this day remains one of the most cherished cartoon characters of the 20th century, if not of all time. If it weren't for her spunk personality, charming physique and surreal tone, who knows what non-Disney animation would have been like back then. However, when it comes to her first ever appearance, that being the cartoon Dizzy Dishes, it's far from anything great.

Now the cartoon does credit Grim Natwick as the lead animator, and rightfully so as he actually created Betty Boom herself, or at least this can be deemed a prototype. As she was modeled after Helen Kane and Esther Jones, Natwick really knew how to bring this lustrous femme to life through broad animation and bizarre proportions. Even though Max Fleischer took credit, it's always a bonus to give praise to the true man who crafted the og version of Betty that led her to stardom. Also, as this cartoon was made in the early 1930s, it is very fun to see the days where almost every cartoon embraced the surrealistic attributes of visual comedy.

Sadly, that's where my positives end. Although most of the negatives I have for this cartoon are more based off the severe limitations of silent filmmaking back then, they still need to be addressed. For one thing, the sound quality is so bad that it's near impossible to comprehend what the others are saying (even Betty's own song for goodness sake). Plus, the animation is inconsistent and jerky, the jokes don't really hit that well, and even the bouncy feel of cartoon animation back then isn't as thrilling as it sounds here.

And then there's the actual storyline itself. The main character, who would later become Betty's sidekick Bimbo, is a waiter who needs to prepare a roast duck for a hungry customer. However, he gets caught up in the dancing fun to the point where the customer gets aggressively uptight at him. Maybe I'm thinking too much about this, but that customer has every right to be angry at that dog. How much free time can one dog have before it bites him in the butt? Regardless, while I do admire this cartoon for being Betty's first unofficial appearance, I can't get into it because of how little it entertains me.

Betty Boop's Cartoon Debut

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 10 August 2022]

Besides Walt Disney, the Fleischer brothers, Max and Dave, were one of the main producers of animated cartoons in the early 1930s. Much of their success could be attributed to a flapper gal who began her career as a cross between a dog and a female singer. Her name: Betty Boop.

Betty's debut was in August 1930's "Dizzy Dishes" where she's singing a brief song that includes her soon-to-be famous catchphrase 'Boop-Oop-a-doop.' Her birth in film was just an afterthought. "Dizzy Dishes" main character was Bimbo the Pup. Betty doesn't appear until around the six minute mark, while Bimbo, whose name was derived from the term at that time to mean men who like to fight, was seen right from the beginning. "Dizzy Dishes" was part of a 42-cartoon series, labeled 'Talkartoons' that augmented Fleischer Studio's earlier "Screen Songs" series. Those musical animations morphed from the even earlier 'Ko-Ko the Clown" cartoons, who emerged from the 1918 'Out of the Inkwell" series. Ko-Ko later was featured in the follow-the-bouncing-ball films with songs featuring the clown, one of cartoon's first short films with a sound track. Bimbo the Pup was born in that string of cartoons because the Fleischers felt their clown needed a pet.

The Fleischers turned to Bimbo to headline their new Talkartoons. The dog's first lead role was in March 1930's 'Hot Dog.' In Bimbo's seventh featured cartoon, "Dizzy Dishes," Bimbo plays a stressed waiter who can't please anyone in a busy restaurant. While he's serving a table with food, he spots cabaret singer Betty on the stage. She appears as a human, but with a button dog nose, long puppy ears and Cocker Spaniel-like eyes. Betty was drawn to appeal to Bimbo. It was over a year, in January 1932's "Any Rags," before Betty dropped the dog ears, turning them into human with large earrings while she became more feminized.

Max told his animators to pattern the flapper dog Betty after actress singer Helen Kane. The likeness to the movie star was so obvious that Kane sued the Fleischers in 1932 in a $250,000 infringement lawsuit. The actress' case was based on her singing style and her "Boop-Oop-a-doop" signature phrase. The Fleischers refuted Kane's claims by pointing to Harlem singer Esther Jones, a.k.a. Baby Esther, who originated Betty Boop's trademark stanza. Turns out Kane had adopted Jones' singing style and claimed it was her own. The judge agreed with the cartoon studio's contention that Betty Boop was a combination of several singing artists.

Here We Meet Betty

[Michael_Elliott · 9 June 2016]

Dizzy Dishes (1930)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This is a somewhat forgettable short but it does have one historically important thing that makes it worth watching. The story is quite simple as everyone in the film is a dog character and we are treated to our main character, a waiter, who is falling behind at work. That's until he walks out into the lobby where we see what would be the first appearance of Betty Boop. DIZZY DISHES isn't all that good as there aren't any laughs and the story itself is nothing special. The reason people will want to watch this is that it does feature the first appearance of Betty Boop, although she doesn't look like she eventually would. She has dog ears here and is a lot taller than what most people think of her as. Fans of Betty will want to check this out even though it doesn't offer much else.

Where's My Roast Duck

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 4 December 2018]

I won't dwell on the obvious first appearance of Miss Boop. She really is a dog. This is about one of those restaurants with a bunch of waiters and no cooks. There is one character who dominates the screen and he is totally incompetent. As watcher of cartoons we shouldn't ask questions like, How can this night club even exist?"

You have to start somewhere

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 29 August 2016]

At pretty much exactly 6 minutes, this is one of the shortest Betty Boop short films. This one is from 1930, so over 85 years old already and it was the very first on-screen appearance by Betty and as she was not an established star at that point yet, she has to share her screen time with several other characters in here and is just as supporting as these are. Also physical appearance is very different. Just like Tom from Tom and Jerry changed dramatically over the years, it is probably even more extreme with Betty. In this one here, she is a chubby creatures that is still much more dog than human and the sex appeal of the character they relied on so heavily in the years to come is missing entirely in here. The film is basically a collection of individual scenes that were intended funny, but rarely deliver in terms of comedy. It is not working as a film with a coherent story, just as a collection of individual sequences I would say. But it's okay. You cannot launch a character like Betty with perfection already. Still good they introduced her at all. Only worth seeing for huge cartoon lovers though.

A Great opening to the talkartoon series

[fatalflower · 10/10 · 13 June 2010]

The Best thing about this talkartoon feature was it the first cartoon to feature the animated character Betty Boop. Betty was nameless in this feature and was Originally meant as a Caricature of Helen Kane. she most likely was meant to have been Helen kane only in a cartoon form and thats why she was nameless also not to mention Betty Boop was a canine.

to avoid confusion margie hines was the first helen kane soundalike chosen to record the singing for this cartoon meaning she was first to voice Betty Boop.

The Caricature Performs one of Helen kanes Novelty Hits (I Have To Have You) with some scat lyrics of Boop Oop a Doop/ Poop Poop a Doo/ Boop Boop a Doop. the cartoon has the regular fleischer studio Gags. basically revolving around bimbo the dog. Gus the gorilla can also be seen in this short who was actually one of the characters from the Betty Boop series. Betty boops singing doesn't last very long but its great to see all the expressions in her face, some are really scary. if only her sequence went on longer.

I give this cartoon 10/10 because it was the first cartoon to feature Betty Boop. she was classed as ugly in this appearance but sooner or later she went though a few more changes which resulted in her becoming the title name called The Betty Boop Cartoons.